March 23 Movement (M23)
The rebels are named after a peace agreement they signed with the Congolese government on March 23, 2009 when they were fighting as part of a group calling itself the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP). Many CNDP fighters were integrated into the Congolese army, officially known by its French initials FARDC.
M23 is a Congolese rebel military group that is for the most part formed of ethnic Tutsi, which is an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. The armed wing of the group is led by General Makenga Sultani, who has served as acting president of the group since the 28 February 2013 removal of Bishop Jean-Marie Runiga Lugerero, a former CNDP member.
Bertrand Bisimwa is a somewhat enigmatic figure and information about him is limited. He was born in the DRC, but specific details are unknown. He is of Tutsi ethnicity, which is significant because M23 claims to defend the interests of the Tutsi minority in the DRC and represent their grievances against the Congolese government.
As M23’s political leader, he was often involved in negotiations with the Congolese government. His role as spokesperson helped shape public perceptions of M23 and its goals, both domestically and internationally. After the dissolution of M23 in late 2013, Bisimwa’s activities became less publicly visible. He reportedly fled to Uganda and then to Rwanda, where he maintained a low profile.
His twitter includes many reposts of an account called Conspiracy Tracker Great Lakes, which is a research and fact-based tool which monitors conspiracy theories and provides latest news in the Great Lakes region of Africa. Bisimwa seems to be mostly committed to peace rather than war, as most interviews show him advocating for peace and safety of civilians.
Sultani Makenga was considered a key military strategist and was instrumental in M23’soperations. Makenga fought for the Rwandan Patriotic Front during the Rwandan Civil War, where he joined an elite unit that participated in the Kitona airlift of 1998.
He was one of the founding members of M23 when it emerged in 2012, defecting from the Congolese army. He was responsible for planning and executing military operations, and led the group’s fighters against the Congolese army and other armed groups in the region. He was known for his tactical perception and his ability to mobilise and coordinate forces effectively. Makenga, like other M23 leaders, faced allegations of war crimes and human rights abuses. In late 2013,he surrendered and reportedly relocated to Rwanda, where he was placed under house arrest.
In 2017, there were reports he was involved in efforts to initiate new armed action in the eastern DRC, but there is no concrete evidence to support this.
Jean-Marie Runiga Lugerero is a Congolese politician and evangelical bishop who served various leadership roles within the group. He participated in negotiations and advocated for what M23 claimed were the rights and interests of the Tutsi ethnic minority in the region.
He was involved in M23’s capture of the city of Goma in November 2012. In 2013, he pledged to end the conflict and was accused of treason and removed from his leadership position. Following his removal, Runiga maintained a faction of M23 that remained loyal to him, which led to clashes with factions loyal to Sultani Makenga.
In June 2016, Jean-Marie Runiga Lugerero participated in the creation of a new Congolese political party called the Alliance pour le Salut du Peuple (ASP). He has been targeted with financial sanctions.
Case Number
20241028DE
Case Date of Filing
24/10/2024
Suspected/Known Time of Incident
Local Time and Date: August 2024
GMT/Congolese Time and Date: August 2024
Case Researcher(s)
Research Analyst William Detels
Rubaya, DRC
Evidence suggests a concerted effort of Rwandan authorities and the M23 to utilise their military position on Congolese soil in the Kivu region for both political and economic gain. Controlling the mining towns in east Congo seems to be a strategic move on their part. Politically, it allows them to push more aggressively for favourable conditions in the Luanda negotiations with Congo; controlling the mining effectively controls a major aspect of the Congolese economy, and thus significantly increases their leverage. Economically, it is an immensely profitable operation from which both Rwanda and the M23 benefit massively. The price of coltan on the global market, which is sourced primarily from these mines, has already more than doubled, with local mine workers standing to benefit with an exponential increase in wages. This increase in friction with the Congolese government and increased economic stability only stands to further benefit M23.
The specific case of the recently captured town of Rubaya demonstrates these dynamics. M23 are enhancing their profits significantly using the occupation of Rubaya, a town rich in smartphone manufacturing minerals, by directing these products to their proxy-host Rwanda. Rwanda allegedly then sells the minerals within the global supply chain, which allegedly includes sales to companies like Apple. Rather than locals experiencing exploitation at the hands of the rebels, their share of the profits have improved especially in comparison to exploitation of workers by foreign operatives and companies, most notably Chinese companies, in other parts of the country. In such operations artisanal miners are left with barely enough to subsist on. The efforts of the Congolese government to prevent foreign exploitation have floundered due to a lack of enforcement and the government’s own corrupt exploitation of the mining industry.
M23 controlled mines in Rubaya, DRC
Rubaya mine at Latitude/Longitude:
1°33'31"S 28°53'00"E
Suspected or Known Aggressors:
M23 (Suspected)
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Known Quantity of Participants:
Unknown
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Aggressor Evidence:
M23 spokespersons confirmed the capture of the town, which has been circulated widely by news outlets.
Case Number
20241028DE
Case Date of Filing
18/11/2024
Case Name
Comparative Research between M23 and Alleged Congolese Military Attack Aftermath Trends
Case Researcher(s)
Research Analyst William Detels, Vincentz Bill, Katherine Bartlett
Summary
​From the 21-30 November 2022, the Rwandan-backed M23 conducted a brutal massacre against civilians in and around the village of Kishishe, the capital of the North-Kivu Province in DRC. In this report, we look to analyse the mass graves containing the bodies of victims to establish patterns in the construction and location with past rebel, and government killings and grave construction in the region.
Casualties
Kishishe November 2022 – April 2024
Total Suspected/Known Number of Casualties: Estimates 20-230 – various estimates•civilians killed by M23 rebels while they prayed in an Adventist church, which was later set on fire: Fifty killed on December 1, 100 on December 2, and 300 on December 5, all announced by various DRC government spokespersons (January 15 2023, NYIRINGABO).
Injured: n/a
Fatalities in Incident: n/a
Fatalities in Grave: 80 behind the church others scattered throughout town- Amnesty international 2023
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Casualty Information-
Age Range: 3 young children, however mostly military aged males were the targets
Genders: Males
Ethnicity/ies: Hutu Descendants with historical , ties to FDLR militia who had carried out Tutsi genocide in Rwanda decades ago, meanwhile M23 is Tutsi.
Casualty Evidence Below:
Two men indicate the position of a mass grave among banana trees near the Adventist Church on April 5, 2023. Several people were executed outside the church by M23 in November 2022 in Kishishe, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. © 2023 AFP/Alexis Huguet
Second Image Via Planet Labs PBC HRW June 14, 2023 12:00AM EDT
Descrpition: A man points to the house of the Adventist church pastor allegedly killed with his son by the March 23 Movement (M23) in November 2022 in Kishishe, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on April 5, 2023. - In late November 2022, according to UN reports, M23 (March 23 Movement) fighters massacred at least 170 civilians in Kishishe in a retaliation attack after being ambushed by a local armed group. For a year, the fighters of the M23 - "Movement of March 23", a predominantly Tutsi armed group - have been advancing in Congolese territory, taking control of main roads, seizing towns and border posts. The capture of Kishishe is also part of a fight by the M23 against the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), a mainly Hutu armed group founded by former leaders of the genocide in Rwanda, exiled in the DRC. The latter have for years installed one of their bastions in the immediate vicinity of the village. (Photo by ALEXIS HUGUET / AFP) (Photo by ALEXIS HUGUET/AFP via Getty Images)
A man walks by the house of the Adventist church pastor allegedly killed with his son by the March 23 Movement (M23) in November in Kishishe, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on April 5, 2023. - In late November 2022, according to UN reports, M23 (March 23 Movement) fighters massacred at least 170 civilians in Kishishe in a retaliation attack after being ambushed by a local armed group. For a year, the fighters of the M23 - "Movement of March 23", a predominantly Tutsi armed group - have been advancing in Congolese territory, taking control of main roads, seizing towns and border posts. The capture of Kishishe is also part of a fight by the M23 against the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), a mainly Hutu armed group founded by former leaders of the genocide in Rwanda, exiled in the DRC. The latter have for years installed one of their bastions in the immediate vicinity of the village. (Photo by ALEXIS HUGUET / AFP) (Photo by ALEXIS HUGUET/AFP via Getty Images
Children sit in front of a house across the street from the Adventist church, where about 30 men and boys were allegedly executed by the March 23 Movement (M23) in November 2022 in Kishishe, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on April 5, 2023. - In late November 2022, according to UN reports, M23 (March 23 Movement) fighters massacred at least 170 civilians in Kishishe in a retaliation attack after being ambushed by a local armed group. For a year, the fighters of the M23 - "Movement of March 23", a predominantly Tutsi armed group - have been advancing in Congolese territory, taking control of main roads, seizing towns and border posts. The capture of Kishishe is also part of a fight by the M23 against the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), a mainly Hutu armed group founded by former leaders of the genocide in Rwanda, exiled in the DRC. The latter have for years installed one of their bastions in the immediate vicinity of the village. (Photo by ALEXIS HUGUET / AFP) (Photo by ALEXIS HUGUET/AFP via Getty Images)
Total Suspected/Known Number of Casualties: Estimates 20-100
Injured: Many Women Raped in Addition to Male fatalities
Fatalities in Incident: up to 270
Fatalities in Grave: 80 behind the church - Amnesty international
Description: Men in front of a corpse lying on a path in Kishishe, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on April 5, 2023. © ALEXIS HUGUET / AFP. Photo Seems to connect to description offered in AFP report: Standing close by, another resident pointed to the top of a hill, where he said “there are more bodies”.Bullet casings littered the ground on the hilltop, which had also had defensive trenches cut into the earth — and a freshly dug grave in a cassava patch.“Four people are buried here,” said a farmer, pointing to the grave.Along a path further on, several decomposing corpses were decomposing in the open air.One man vomited from the overpowering smell. A small group of woman and children returning from the fields passed by without looking, seemingly unfazed. The corpses didn’t appear to be there long, and it was not clear under what circumstances they were killed.Fabrice, a resident of Kishishe, said that the M23 rebels forced him to dig graves, but explained that the rebels had cremated some of their victims
Suspected or Known Aggressors:Group/Tribe/Militia/Organisation: M23 With likely Support of Rwanda according to UN (Holland and Peyton 2022)
Suspected/Known Quantity of Participants: n/a
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Aggressor Evidence Below:
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First Hand Accounts provided via relief web article and Amnesty International-
“Survivors and witnesses told Amnesty International that after taking control of Kishishe, groups of M23 fighters went house-to-house, summarily killing every adult male they found and subjecting scores of women to rape, including gang rape.
Aline* was raped by a group of men on 29 November 2022, along with six other women who were hiding in her house in the village of Kishishe. She said: "They broke through the gate of the compound and rounded up all the men present, seven in total, who they killed. Five soldiers then raped us: six women and me. They called us FDLR wives.
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”Eugenie* told Amnesty International that she was raped by three M23 soldiers on 30 November 2022 outside a church where she had sought refuge with her family following clashes between M23 and other armed groups. "They said we were all FDLR. They singled out the men and shot them dead, including my husband and two sons. Three M23 soldiers then took me behind the church and took turns to rape me. I thought I would not survive.” Another survivor who was raped outside the same church told Amnesty International that she counted scores of bodies of men who had been killed."I counted up to 80 bodies of men who had been shot dead by M23 soldiers at the church. I have never seen so many corpses in my life. I fainted before I could count all of them.
”Of the 13 survivors from Kishishe who said they were raped on 29 or 30 November 2022, 12 said their husbands or adult sons had been killed in cold blood.
Immaculée*, 23, was raped by two M23 soldiers. She told Amnesty International: "They took turns brutally raping me in the presence of my terrified little children. After raping me, they took all the valuables in the house and my two goats. We have found refuge, but we lack everything. We survive on the goodwill of the people who do not have much themselves. I have coped with rape, but I do not know if my children and myself will survive hunger.”
(Amnesty International 2023)
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Further Testimony found Via AFP-
AFP visited the town on April 5. All names of interviewees have been changed to protect their safety. Residents described M23 fighters as launching a manhunt in Kishishe on November 29, going door-to-door and slaughtering any men or boys they found. Michel, standing near a mass grave by the church where he had hidden, clasped his hands together as he recounted the attack. Dozens of people had taken refuge in the church, explained Michel, but to no avail.
​
“They started killing everywhere,” the 40-year-old farmer said.
“They said every man who was there had to disappear from the Earth.”
Standing close by, another resident pointed to the top of a hill, where he said “there are more bodies”.
Bullet casings littered the ground on the hilltop, which had also had defensive trenches cut into the earth — and a freshly dug grave in a cassava patch.
“Four people are buried here,” said a farmer, pointing to the grave.
He said that he had witnessed 33 killings. The exact death toll in Kishishe remains unclear.In February 2023, the UN put the figure at 171, but other estimates are lower. Amnesty International said that rebels killed at least 20 people. A village elder told AFP that 120 deaths had occurred between November 22-29, producing a handwritten three-page list of names from his pocket.
“If they found a 14-year-old boy or a man, they killed them, even if they didn’t have a weapon,” he said.
(AFP Findings printed in Casablanca Club 2023)
"They told them to sit on the edge of a hole, and they started shooting them," said Michel, who witnessed the killings from his hiding place.
Fabrice, a resident of Kishishe, said that M23 rebels forced him to dig graves, but explained that the rebels had cremated some of their victims.
(AFP Finding printed in the East African)
Incident 2: Instance of Government Attack and Construction of Mass Grave in 2017 found in the Nganza Village, Kasai Region
Under the pretext of rooting out a religious cult within the region Congolese Government troops looted and massacred civilians in the commune of Nganza in the Kasai Region. Mass graves reportedly are scattered throughout the fields the and streets of the community barely visible and with soldiers guarding the sites to prevent further investigation as to who are in the graves (New York Times 2017).
In Ngaza, locals said government soldiers went door-to-door in March looting and indiscriminately killing civilians perceived as sympathetic to the insurgency.“
If we didn't give them money they would kill us,” said Rosalie Monuque Kajinga, 45.
“They took everything we had: pigs and goats, clothes, food, even chairs.”
On two visits to Nganza, IRIN was shown five mass graves laid out by the side of a wide dirt-road next to a large communal playing field. A reliable local source who asked not to be named said they had counted as many as 17 similar graves in the neighbourhood.
In one house shown to IRIN, locals said 500 corpses had been temporarily dumped by soldiers after the March attack. Bloodstains could be seen on one of the walls and the floor was strewn with clothes, including trademark red headbands.
“The blood was everywhere,” said the home’s owner, Luabu Marie. “Now I have left and have no place to live.”
-Kleinfield 2017
Nganza image 1
These skulls are believed to be from victims of the fighting between soldiers and the Kamwina Nsapu, a rebel militia.
Credit: AaronRoss/Reuters
Ngyaza image 2:
Congolese women walked by a mass grave, in the background. The United Nations has so far identified 80 mass graves in the Kasai region since violence erupted last year. The government has denied having a hand in the massacres.
Credit-Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura/The New York Times
Kids play on the mass graves in Nganza.​
Analysis:
The placement and construction patterns of the graves confirm the oral testimonies from local witnesses and victims of the massacre: The perpetrators seem to have committed under the principle of exerting as much trauma and pain onto the Kisheshe villagers as possible, with little thought given to burial rites or even hiding the bodies in an effective. This is corroborated by the methods used to dispose of the dead bodies: As opposed to utilizing dump pits, local mines or heavy machinery to quickly dispose of large numbers of bodies, M23 coerced community members into digging haphazard holes in their stead, reinforcing the notion of maximizing trauma and brutality at the expense of efficiency.
Simultaneously, the locations of graves at the center of the community and the public methods used to bury their victims indicate that concealment of bodies from external scrutiny was not a concern of the perpetrators. Instead, the facts suggest that they intended to make a show of their acts, make their crimes visible for the world to see. The extensive use of torture, rape and other means of humiliation and mutilation further corroborate this.
There is significant similarity to past massacres, specifically the Rwandan genocide, which we may locate here: The suffering of the victims as an end in itself, rather than being a mere means to a political, military or other end, was a critical signature of the Hutu regime’s systematic extermination of the Tutsi peoples. Known in Rwanda as a “bad death” (bapfuye nabi), inflicting violence was used during the Rwandan genocide to corrupt social processes of burial and commemoration by forcing family or community members to bury their loved ones, thus symbolically participating in the violence and mutilating the community. This ‘second violence’ is mirrored in the Kisheshe tragedies. Brutality vis-à-vis the village members was so extensive, inefficient and ‘theatrical’, it is logical to infer that it was seen as an end, rather than a political means.
Furthermore, similar to those past massacres in the region, the Kisheshe events seem to lack any discernible coherent approach to the killings. Some regimes employ a systematic, industrialized strategy to exterminate their enemy, such as the Nazis in Eastern Europe during World War 2. Instead, the grave locations and construction seem to have been chosen spontaneously, likely based on the convenience of transporting the bodies. The events rather follow the logic of an 'orgy of killing', where murders were conducted at various places, such as the church, the local schools, as well as individual housings.
The massacre and mass burial of civilians in Nganza by government troops bear a similar methodology to that of M23. Soldier-constructed graves vary from small, hand tool constructed graves, scattered around communities close to where victims were killed violence occurred, to larger ones in more open areas. Testimonies, similarly, allege how grave were constructed after other crimes, such as looting and indiscriminate killing, had been committed. These instances showcase that construction graves and persecution of crimes are more reflective of greater shared circumstances of conflicts waged in the Congo rather than particular factions. The remnants of these atrocities tell a similar story: a largely light infantry attack against a largely unarmed opposing force throughout the village they occupy, undertaken with high prejudice.
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Bibliography:
AFP. “Mass Graves, Unclaimed Bodies Haunt East DR Congo Kishishe Town.” The Casablanca Club, 12 Apr. 2023, thecasablancaclub.com/mass-graves-unclaimed-bodies-haunt-east-dr-congo-kishishe-town/.
Afp. “Mass Graves, Unclaimed Bodies Haunt East DR Congo Kishishe Town.” The East African, The East African, 12 Apr. 2023, www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/east-africa/mass-graves-haunt-east-dr-congo-town-4196172.
AfricaNews. “DRC: Kishishe Survivors Haunted by Nightmare of M23 Occupation.” Africanews, Africanews, 13 Aug. 2024, www.africanews.com/2023/04/11/drc-kishishe-survivors-haunted-by-nightmare-of-m23-occupation/.
Amnesty International. “DR Congo: Rwandan-Backed M23 Rebels Perpetrating Summary Killings and Rapes.” Amnesty International USA, 16 Feb. 2023, www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/dr-congo-rwandan-backed-m23-rebels-killings-and-rapes/.
Holland, Hereward, and Nellie Peyton. “U.N. Experts: Rwanda Has Intervened Militarily in Eastern Congo | Reuters.” Reuters, 4 Aug. 2022, www.reuters.com/world/africa/un-experts-say-rwanda-has-intervened-militarily-eastern-congo-2022-08-04/.
Human Rights Watch. “DR Congo: Mass Graves Tied to Rwanda-Backed M23.” Human Rights Watch, 29 Aug. 2023, www.hrw.org/news/2023/06/14/dr-congo-mass-graves-tied-rwanda-backed-m23.
Kleinfeld, Philip. “Mass Graves, Missing Bodies, and Mysticism: Inside Congo’s Spiralling Kasai Conflict.” The New Humanitarian, 19 Sept. 2018, www.thenewhumanitarian.org/feature/2017/09/12/mass-graves-missing-bodies-and-mysticism-inside-congo-s-spiralling-kasai-conflict#:~:text=The%20mass%20graves%20of%20Nganza%20are%20among%2087,indiscriminately%20killing%20civilians%20during%20raids%20against%20the%20group.
Lorgorie, Paul. “Congolese Government Ups Toll in Massacre to 272 Civilians | Reuters.” Reuters, 6 Dec. 2022, www.reuters.com/world/africa/congolese-govt-says-272-civilians-killed-massacre-last-week-2022-12-05/.
Nyiringabo, Gatete. “Inside Rebel Territory: Treacherous Trip to Kishishe ‘massacre’ Grounds.” The East African, The East African, 14 Jan. 2023, www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/east-africa/treacherous-trip-to-kishishe-massacre-grounds-4086094.
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